Medicinal Uses

Medicinal uses of the
heartwood, bark, resinous stem, resinous wood and aloeresin, prepared from
Aquilaria spp., have been recorded in traditional medical systems
including Chinese (TCM), Tibetan, Ayurvedic (Indian) and Unani (Greek
derived Islamic). External and Internal preparations have been used citing
a variety of Aquilaria species.

These
traditional medical systems have
been used for indigenous health-care for thousands of years
and can stand up
on their own merits, because of the general non-scientific ‘universal
truths’ on which all these systems are based, there are inevitably
similarities in some major classifications. We can therefore also see
similarities in uses:

TCM
(Traditional Chinese Medicine) herbs are classified
by the way that they
reorganise the body constituents to a state of balance (Qi, moisture and
blood) and classified into five tastes (closely linked to smell) not
disimilar from the five basic
odour classifications of agarwood incense listed in the previous section,
of sour, bitter,
sweet, spicy and salty. TCM recognises primal forces which govern the body
of which fire is the force that has an eliminative action which discharges
qi downwards.

Likewise, Tibetanmedicine
recognises similar primal forces that govern the body but has six tastes
sour, bitter, sweet, salty, hot and astringent. Selections of herbs are made
based on their taste and potency with regard to the primal forces for
re-balancing and restoring health – fire being the force that transforms.

In Ayurveda, there are
five primary categories of matter (which combine to create 3
doshas or forces),
five attributes and five elements. Fire is the element that transforms.
Ayurveda recognises six tastes - sour, bitter, sweet, salty, pungent and
astringent.

Unani medicine recognises the
four humors which have elements, body substances ~ blood, phlegm, yellow
bile and black bile and qualities ascribed to each humor. These
classifications are based on temperament both of people and the humors
themselves. Temperaments of humors and person need to be diagnosed so that
humors of plants can be prescribed to bring the body back to a state of
balance.

TCM

Aquilaria-derived
formulations in general seem to relieve spasms and other forms of stagnant
or stuck energy particularly in the digestive (stomach, kidneys, liver,
bowel) and respiratory systems. The warming properties of Aquilaria derived
medications has been noted. In TCM it warms the kidneys (Subhuti
Dharmananda), In Ayurveda it is similarly recognised for It’s warming
properties, In Tibetan medicine and in the Unani system It is balancing.

Shizen Li notes that
agarwood [Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg.] is mentioned in ancient
Chinese Herbals in 1596 (Li, 1596), being sought after for it’s physical
therapeutic and energetic applications. Hsu (1996) notes that Aquilariae
Lignum (aloeswood)
in his Chinese Materia Medica
consists of the heartwood containing the dark-brown resin which is derived
from:

Excoecaria
agallocha
L. in India. (N.B. – this Indian mangrove tree although susceptible to
soft rot, is not usually associated with gaharu formation).

Its use was first recorded in
Ming i pieh lu, Agarwood being the heartwood that
emits fragrance and sinks in water, from which the drug gets its name. The
Revolutionary Health Committee of Hunan Province (1995) considered a
decoction of A. agallocha to have slight warming properties, to lower
energy (activity), reinforce the kidneys, to regulate the central organs and
to alleviate pain. The authors recommend use in abdominal pain, tightness of
the chest, vomiting and regurgitation, diarrhoea and asthma. [Authors note – the
statement ‘lower energy’ above is a poor translation, rather: ‘to move
energy down towards the kidneys where it can continue to be utilised
efficiently by the body’].

Ayurveda

Similarly, in the Indian Ayurvedic
healing system, the burning of agarwoods has a warming and centering effect
on the chakras and promotes a deep meditational state.

Agarwood heartwood is used in
various Ayurvedic formulas including Chyavanprasha, Arimedadi Taila
and Mahanarin Taila (Anon 1978: The Ayurvedic Formulary of India Vol
1). Its uses [“A. malaccensis Lam. syn. A. agallocha Rox.”]
have been described as
a cardiac tonic, carminative & refrigerant (Natarajan & Purushothaman
1991). In the Unani herbal medicine it is used as a stimulant, stomachic,
laxative (purgative in large doses) and as an aphrodisiac.It is also used
in the Ayurvedic system against skin diseases (Anon 1985: The Wealth of
India - Raw Materials Vol 1), and powdered heartwood is given for
treatment of diahorrea, dysentery, vomiting and anorexia (Anon 1969:
Bhava Prakash Nighantu, pub Chaukhamba Vidya Bhawan, Varanasai pp195-6).
Agarwood
oil, mixed with essential oil from Piper betel is used against
bronchial asthma (ibid) [ - through Indian Medicinal & Aromatic Plants
Facing Genetic Errosion – CIMAP, Lucknow 1978]. It is also
reported as being used by the traditional vaidyas as a contraceptive (Nagarjun
1979-80 23,9), and the leaves boiled in oil used to remove fish bones
stuck in the throat (Bull. Bot. Surv, India 1980 22,161).

Tibetan Medicine & Ethinic Psychiatry.

Oleoresin, wood and oil are
used in Tibetan
medicine and incense, especially prized is “black aloeswood”,(Aquilaria
agallocha)
which Clifford (1984) describes as being relied on by contemporary Tibetan
doctors for treatment of a whole range of nervous and emotional disorders.
Clifford further describes black aloeswood as the most commonly used minor
tranquilliser.

Aromatherapy, Incense.

Although there are fewer documented
folk-uses of agarwood essential oil in Western medicine, Franchomme & Peneol
(1990) in their
treatise on aromatherapy
consider the oil of “Aquilaria
agallocha Roxb.
agospirolifera”to be a decongestant
for the lymphatic and venous systems, and to be indicated for venous
insufficiency & malaria.
Miller and Miller
(1995) in their book Ayerveda Aromatherapy describe the energetic
warming, balancing effects of oud (:oil of A. agallocha), and its’
energy purifying and balancing, relaxant, rejeuvinative, transformative,
clairvoyant and transcending actions.

The use of agarwood as an
incense ingredient is recognised in written works from Japan, China and
elsewherebut in the main,
it is through the means of oral tradition that the secrets that accompany
use of materials such as agarwoods lie. From welcoming ancestors long
departed, to stilling the mind, through to stopping the spread of infection
where large groups of people are gathered, Incense is burned for energetic,
cleansing, mental, physical & spiritual effect. As is the case with certain
grades of musk and ambergris, the high prices that can be achieved
internationally for certain grades of gaharu is often
based on availability
rather than quality.
Krishnan (1997)
describes traditional ood attar made from wood from Assam fetching Rs 15,000
to RS 20,000 per tola (11.62g).